What is a Microsite?
Microsites are mini websites, usually on its own domain or subdomain, dedicated to delivering information and soliciting ‘call-to-action’ responses for particular products, services, market segments, demographic groups, marketing campaigns, initiatives and/or promotions. They are powerful tools in generating targeted leads for your marketing/communications campaigns. Satisfy the increasing need to prove a Return on Investment by empowering marketing, PR, and promotions with the metrics and reporting capabilities of the web.
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Optawise Microsite Platform
Optawise has developed a completely scalable, standards-compliant Content Management System (Microsite Platform) that provides Agencies, their Corporate Clients, and local dealers or franchisees the ability to create a microsite(s) for each location (with a unique URL) packed with robust tools and features, including:
- roles-based user rights,
- store and dealer locators,
- backend reporting for site statistics and analytics,
- custom theme options and layouts,
- statistics on best performing themes,
- and much more.
What Are the Benefits?
Expand your online marketing capabilities and leverage the viral benefits of the web. Whether launching a new marketing campaign or adding fuel to an existing campaign, Optawise can help you create, sustain and measure buzz.
With Optawise’s powerful Microsite CMS Platform you can:
- Launch dynamic, visually effective lead generation campaigns
- Add new media, online video, rich-media, blogging and podcasting to your site
- Boost your search engine visibility
- Never wait on IT again
What Do I Get?
Microsite and complete website packages from Optawise come with a complete set of easy-to-use website content management and online marketing tools including:
Powerful Web Content Management
Non-technical user can control your web content – not IT. Edit any page, digital asset, or site section at any time from any Internet-connected computer.
High-end Website Design Services
Optawise’s experienced website design team will evolve your existing branding and work with you to quickly deploy a microsite, landing page or full website ready to drive sales and awareness for your online marketing initiatives.
Integrated Email Campaign Management and Distribution
Distribute opt-in email campaigns to hundreds or thousands of recipients and track click-thrus, email opens and conversions. Send text or HTML using standard templates or your own custom email newsletter template. Drive recipients to landing pages designed to convert.
Multimedia Management and Distribution (with Social Video Communications)
Easily add streaming audio, video and high-resolution images to your site and distribute your content to iTunes, YouTube, and Flickr.
Campaign Landing Pages
Create campaign, product, service or event landing pages for use with email campaigns and search engine marketing (Pay-per-Click advertising). Add multimedia (flash video) and other elements to landing pages to increase response rates and drive conversions.
Lead Capture and Management
Use embedded forms and “call to action” kiosks to drive site visitors to register for more information and capture, track and measure those “leads” in your Admin Dashboard.
Social Media Integration
Let others share your content easily over the latest social media sites and send your content to some of the leading 3rd party sites, such as Flickr and YouTube.
Best-Practice Consulting
You can be certain that you are delivering your messages to your audience in the most effective way possible with guidance from our experienced design and delivery teams.
Dedicated Support for your Account
24/7 technical support from a dedicated team of professionals with guaranteed up-time are included with every microsite package.
Stay Ahead of the Market
Product enhancements, upgrades and innovation are available to you through the life of your site.
More Information about Microsites and Optawise’s Platform
A “local centric” microsite is a dynamic online marketing tool that can be used as a strategic extension of the corporate website and/or by the Franchisee (owner) as a standalone website that is complimentary and tied into the corporate website.
Benefits:
- Deliver focused and targeted marketing content to local consumers through individual “Search Engine Optimized” franchise micro sites that communicate location specific products, services, specials, promotions, coupons, community events, contests etc.
- Establish a Platform that engages local consumers to participate and interact with individual franchise locations. Encourage local consumers to sign up for relevant email marketing, newsletters, promotion alerts, community events, contests etc. sponsored by the local franchise and supported at the corporate level.
- Improve the Franchises’ national and local Online Branding initiatives and increase reach through the deployment of targeted Search Engine Optimized Microsites for each location.
Why do Franchises need Microsite’s
for each of their locations?
Focus, Target & Engage:
Microsites focus an audience’s attention on particular marketing/ promotional initiatives that are locally targeted. Most Franchise (corporate) websites present a variety of background and general information that over a short period of time becomes less relevant to a “local” consumers’ immediate needs. In contrast, microsites tend to concentrate a viewer’s attention on campaign particulars and/or specific product, service, location centric information (community events, promotions, videos) so the consumer doesn’t get distracted by non-applicable material and is more engaged and interested in the local content that is presented.
Search Engine Optimization
Because “local centric” microsites are dedicated to specific market initiatives and contain content (keywords) and variables that are location specific, they more easily conform to search engine optimization tactics and techniques, increasing the likeliness your microsite(s) will be found in organic search results when consumers use geo-keywords, i.e. “Los Angeles satellite TV “, delivering more appropriate (qualified) visitors, who are more directly concerned with the information being presented.
Tailor Marketing Message
Microsites using the Optawise infrastructure are easy to create, very flexible in the content that can be displayed, are smaller in scope and they are less expensive to create and manage. As a result, it is more cost effective for you to create multiple versions designed to target different geographical regions or market demographics and, being cost effective, also allows you to test different messages and different delivery techniques to determine what works.
Microsites satisfy a visitor’s quest for relevant information and for problem-solving solutions (product-service research) that form the basis for positive user experience and high levels of visitor satisfaction. Because microsites cut through the clutter, they quickly establish brand relationships and seed word-of-mouth opportunities. The confidence created by solving problems helps close the sale: prospects tend to buy from companies in their geographic area that they know, like, and trust.
Save, Share & Distribution of Content
Because microsites provide a direct and specific reference to particular problem-solving solutions and/or product, service and contact information, they are more likely to be bookmarked for future reference than more general corporate sites, or email newsletters that are easily lost, deleted, or misfiled.
Microsites extend the utility of email newsletters that on average have a very short shelf life, anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes and e-newsletters are rarely read below the virtual fold. Getting email subscribers to simply connect to the local microsite invests them in your message.
Extend & Enhance Marketing Messages
Microsites move email newsletter subscribers from plain text emails of relatively little impact, (designed to avoid spam blockers), to fully enhanced, highly focused, rich-media microsites designed to convert prospects to customers.
Microsites create opportunities for interactive initiatives like questionnaires, polls, and surveys that promote interest and involvement, extend time spend receiving your marketing message, and provide you with mission critical customer feedback.
A Microsite sells. It inspires. It engages its audience, solicits responses, interactions and even word-of-mouth referrals. It’s a 24-hour digital sales rep that sells like your best sales rep on the rep’s best day.
Better Return on Investment
Given the low cost and high value that is achieved over the longer term through the deployment of a local microsite(s), Franchise owners will ultimately produce better returns on their investment when compared to traditional media (newspapers, magazines, direct mail, Yellow Pages) that are typically more expensive, less flexible and limited in message, reach and exposure than a microsite that is available 24/7/365.
Microsites can help Franchise marketers reach a number of strategic goals, including:
- Concentrate on specific target market or geographic area
- Communicate a clear, concise message
- Introduce a new product, service or brand
- Publicize a special sale, event, contest or promotion
- Generate Qualified Leads
- Build Valuable Relationships with Local Consumers
- Provides self-service info and tools to visitors and/or customers
- Launch of a Viral Marketing Campaign
- Sell a particular product or service
- Generate registrations for a special event
- Generate permission-based e-mail lists
- Generate entries for a sweepstakes promotion or survey
- Generate sign-ups for more information
- Recruit qualified job candidates in geographic area
- Tailored to a specific niche
- Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- SEO: To Leverage a keyword rich Domain / URL
- SEO: To Help Build External Links to a Main Site and Microsites
What Are the Elements of a Good Microsite?
- Microsites must engage the visitor immediately and deliver the promise featured in the initial contact vehicle (newsletter, advertisement, or informational link).
- Microsites must be branded so that visitors know whom they are visiting and they should contain visible and auditory tags that help visitors retain the marketing message.
- Microsites must have straightforward navigation, be easy to understand and provide a clear call to action with appropriate contact links.
- Microsites provide opportunities for collecting analytical information so that adjustments can be made to future initiatives.
- They are also an ideal vehicle for offering incentives in return for customer information and feedback, or for driving traffic to ecommerce websites and brick and mortar stores, and for disseminating sample offers for new product launches.
Consumers are directed to a microsite from multiple locations:
- URL in other media, such as advertising, TV and radio
- Link from an existing page of your website
- Link from a third party’s website
- Link from an e-newsletter
- URL printed in direct mail
- Link from an e-mail
- Search engine results
Marketers build microsites to complement and improve the results of a campaigns. The benefits to the marketer include:
- Easy and relatively inexpensive to create and re-use
- Track targeted user activity by monitoring how the user arrives at your microsite and which page(s) the user clicks on
- Customize content to guide the user and influence an action
- Microsite visitors share more about themselves compared to visitors of regular websites
- Ability to repackage content for use on other microsites
- Attracting advertisers on the microsite
- Enhance e-mails by designing a microsite that is specific to a particular email campaign
When deciding on whether or not to use microsites, ask yourself:
1. What is the goal of the microsite?
- To promote the main site.
- To rank for niche terms.
- To spin-off a new product.
- To target a specific audience.
2. Do you have the resources to maintain and properly optimize the microsite? Content Management Systems like the Optawise Microsite Platform make it easy and inexpensive to launch multiple microsites for all your store/ office locations.
3. Will the microsites have unique and interesting content that is not duplicated on your other sites?
Online Marketing Benefits
Increase Your Reach & Exposure Locally:
Our local website and local search advertising solution is an effective way to reach more local consumers searching geographically for your products and services. The more quality relevant “local centric” web pages and local advertising solutions you can strategically present to consumers as part of your online marketing mix the more people you will reach with your message and the greater exposure you will create on the Internet for your products & services.
Improve Brand Awareness:
Targeting your message and corporate brand to local markets will improve your ability to capture new customers and will extend your brand and brand message into local markets. You will more effectively reach and engage local consumers and increase your brand awareness within specific markets when your message is targeted based on geographic profiles and specific needs and wants of consumers in those specific geographic locations.
Improve Search Engine Optimization:
Effective search engine optimization (being listed in the top 10 positions for your type of business) is a result achieved based on many factors. The most important and crucial is creating and displaying valuable content and information for users (consumers). The second most important factor is building authority or credibility for your web pages through valuable links from other web pages. The cost effectiveness and scalability of online (Internet) advertising is such that your business should deploy several online marketing tactics including the creation and management of multiple websites, microsites, blogs, banner ads, search ads etc. to gain greater exposure, create more authoritative links to your landing pages and ultimately improve your organic ranking in search engine results.
Better Leads & Higher Conversion Rates:
Locally targeted websites and search engine targeted ads tend to attract more qualified leads to your web pages which in turn should increase your conversion rates toward your desired consumer call-to-action.
Target Your Messages Locally:
Local search engine optimized websites and locally targeted ads for each of your store locations allows you to more effectively extend & target your message to local consumers in all the communities your business serves. Local centric marketing allows you to tailor your message to specific geographic markets based on market trends, community demographics and local needs & wants.
Encourages Repeat Visitors:
Locally targeted websites with locally relevant content (products/services) will tend to attract highly qualified consumers from your target area who will tend to come back to your local site for community based promotions, specials, events etc.
Builds a Loyal Community and Social Network of Consumers:
Locally targeted websites with highly relevant content and save & share options are more likely to create loyal consumers who will be encouraged to join your community and sign-up (email address) for your newsletters, contests, updates, local promotions etc. and who may become evangelists for your brand(s), products and services providing testimonials and positive reviews to other consumers in their community and social networks.
Rapid Deployment of Message & Content:
Our ready-to-use and highly efficient Content Management System (Opta Brand Control) allows for quick and easy creation, deployment and update of websites/ microsites – reducing your time to market and providing you the flexibility to adjust your message and content regularly and at minimal expense.
Rapid Response to Market Conditions:
Our ready-to-use and highly efficient Content Management System (Opta Brad Control) allows you to respond quickly to market conditions/ changes, consumer demand and inventory availability in your various local markets. Easily maintain your overall brand but tailor your message to meet your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly objectives in each of your communities.
Limited Investment:
Our scalable Opta Brand Control Micro Sites and local search engine platform are immediately available for your deployment of multiple search engine optimized websites and targeted local search advertising, thus eliminating any short or long term development costs your business might incur if building a similar solution from scratch.
Low Cost – High Value Solution:
Our website/microsite and local search advertising solution already offers more at a lower cost than any of our competitors. Our goal is to continue to offer more value through improved features and functions for a fixed price to encourage long-term participation by most businesses, chain stores and franchises across the globe.
Search Engine Optimization:
Locally centric microsites gain and retain top search engine positions and as a result have a greater opportunity to attract interested and targeted consumers looking for that type of business, product and/or service. Having multiple microsites that link to each other and your corporate website improves your SEO and increases your chances of being found on the many search engines.
Target Market More Measurable:
Website/Microsite tracking and analytics provides important information regarding consumer behavior at the local level. Save time and money by testing products, services and marketing messages locally before launching regional or national campaigns.
Increase Consumer Interest and Attention:
Today’s customer wants to be viewed as an important, distinct shopper, not part of a mass consumer audience. Customers who feel recognized and catered to at the local level and that are provided relevant messages that interest them, will most likely spend more time on your site and buy more product/services from you.
Build Consumer Confidence & Loyalty:
Local based websites/microsites help build communities of consumers that share certain conditions (economic, geographical, local events etc.). Customers that perceive that your business truly understands their conditions, needs and wants will have more confidence and loyalty in your products/ services. Customers that are targeted locally are more apt to be respondent and proactive because they don’t have to navigate through irrelevant clutter and content.
To learn more, or to have us help you scope out your Microsite Platform Solution, contact and expert, today:
https://connectnow.acrobat.com/opta